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AK
ParticipantTo the pink sheets it goes …
NYSE Suspends Trading New Century Financial Corporation’s Securities
ParticipantOCTFCU is insured by the NCUA, not the FDIC.
You should be able to get a Financial Performance Report through NCUA.
I seem to recall an interview with someone from OCTFCU in Lansner’s blog … sounds like they weren’t into exotic loans, and he didn’t seem *that* deluded.
ParticipantNEW dropped another 25% today to 3.87, with trading volume of 50 million shares (pretty much the entire float).
I know little about the inner workings of the subprime mortgage industry but I do know a little bit about failing/failed companies. Seems to me that NEW has passed the point of no return …
Wow. That was fast. Like Enron fast.
ParticipantToo little too late as always.
I did some coding and site design work for a financial PR firm in the late ’90s. (I was young and I needed the money.) Back in those days Arthur Levitt, the SEC, et al. focused all their regulatory attention on micro-cap fraud. Think “Boiler Room.” Sure that problem needed attention, but it diverted the investing public from much greater issues … Enron’s collapse alone cost investors ten times the estimated $6 billion take of micro-cap fraud.
Now the Fed wants to tighten subprime lending standards, months after the sector started to collapse on its own. Really bold action, I say.
I suppose some state AG will make a big stink about the subprime mess in the next few years, just as Spitzer did in the wake of the dot-com crash.
ParticipantMaybe … but there are times when this old saying applies: “You can’t cheat an honest man!”
ParticipantDown to $299K now …
Let’s see how low it goes, and how it influences the three other listed units in the same complex.
ParticipantAnother article, this one from PE.com. New lawsuit by a Rialto couple.
Investors file federal fraud lawsuit
http://www.pe.com/business/local/stories/PE_Biz_D_fraud13.2150a76.htmlMostly stuff we’ve heard already … here’s the new stuff:
(snip)
The plaintiffs in the latest suit, Anna Richter and Deborah Weber, said they were persuaded by the defendants to extract all the equity from their homes, which was subsequently wired to accounts that the defendants controlled. They never received the promised returns, the suit said. …Richter said in an interview Monday that she became an investor with Pacific Wealth in April on the advice of a friend from church. Richter, 39, who until recently was a senior chemist at California Steel Industries in Fontana, said she and her husband, Mark, 44, a senior inspector for California Steel, hoped their investment profits would enable Mark to go into the ministry.
Richter said she borrowed $187,000 on their house in Rialto that Pacific Wealth used to help her and her husband buy three more homes. In addition, she said, Pacific Wealth opened credit cards in her name on which she borrowed $76,000 in cash. She said she invested that and another $15,000 from her 401(k) for a six-month investment that Pacific Wealth was touting in foreign currency.
(snip)That “foreign currency” is the Iraqi dinar …
February 17, 2007 at 12:04 PM in reply to: How will the IT community handle the coming housing crash/recession? #45699ParticipantA word of warning: It ain’t easy to start a computer science master’s program if you don’t have an undergrad CS major or minor. I’d need to take 8-9 courses just to qualify for admissions to SDSU, 14-15 to qualify for UCSD.
Chico State has an online second B.S. program in CS, but it ain’t cheap. ($1600+ per class.)
Consider starting with a community college degree or certificate program. Or if you’re more into the technology management side of things, consider a management information systems degree.
February 16, 2007 at 7:17 PM in reply to: How will the IT community handle the coming housing crash/recession? #45663ParticipantComing into this discussion a bit late …
The mortgage industry employs quite a few database administrators, network admins, application developers, etc. Many of them will be hitting the market soon … As with anything else, increasing inventory means longer time on market and lower prices.
Some IT professionals are doing very well right now as there is an acute shortage in some specialties. I say “acute” in the medical sense of “severe but brief.” My former employer spent beaucoup bucks on $150/hr consultants … they dressed nicely, talked a great line of bull, but didn’t accomplish much. (One day I actually caught one of them reading a “PHP for Dummies” type book.) I’m guessing your McMansion acquaintances have some sweet consulting gig like that … where the important skill is self-promotion, not technical expertise.
I’d say that mid-career professionals are in the best position. They have the experience to be productive, and the stuff they learned in school is still fresh and relevant. Me importantly, management thinks they’ll settle for a modest salary, and they pose less of a threat to the people making the hiring decisions.
But as others have mentioned, entry-level work isn’t easy to come by. Most employers would rather wait months or years to find the perfect candidate rather than take a chance on some kid fresh out of school. Skills are hard to assess from an interview, and a large percentage of resumes are padded or fraudulent, so many jobs are filled through the buddy system.
If you really want to go into IT, consider government work. You’ll have some job security, a long-term career path, and a secure pension plan, even if the pay is low. That’s what I did … I even passed up a counteroffer from my old employer and a standing offer at a big defense contractor.
For education … depends on what you want to do, but I’d consider an accredited four-year college or a good community college myself. Last I heard Palomar had an excellent program. As does Saddleback College in Mission Viejo.
Some of the vocational schools are good, but some are wretched … and they’re all expensive. And the crash programs have a reputation for “teaching the test” … just enough information to pass the certification exams, with no real hands-on experience.
And don’t go into IT if you’re sensitive or thin-skinned. People in other departments will treat you like ****, send you profane e-mail, steal your parking spaces, etc. and your managers will expect you to put up with it for political reasons. Think of yourself as the office janitor with more pay. Speaking of which, you’re likely to make good friends with the janitorial crew as you’ll be working during the same hours.
Are there rewards? Certainly. There’s the satisfaction of a job well done. There’s the chance to work around people with sharp analytical minds. And there’s the camaraderie … no one in my department ever stabbed me in the back for a promotion or a raise. (Probably because there were no promotions or raises to be had.) Just don’t go into this for the money.
ParticipantThose houses are on a one-way street (going the wrong way IMO) with minuscule street frontage and no real yards to speak of. Kids have to cross either the freeway or a busy six-lane street to get anywhere. No blue-water views in that neighborhood, except for some peek-a-boo views … and on that side of the freeway you’d need a telescope to see the water. At least there’s a sound wall on both sides of the 5 now.
But $755K isn’t so egregious … I’ve seen much worse going for much more in that area.
ParticipantJust noticed that a very similar unit in the same complex (357 Windy Lane, reported at 1220 sf) is on the market for $357K.
ParticipantNo question about it.
MOVE.
Spend those precious years with your family building financial and emotional security.
I’m sure you’d do well as an attorney, but at this point in your life the costs would far outweigh the benefits.
If you need the intellectual challenge, start a part-time graduate or law program out in the Midwest — or even an online degree program.
If you miss the cultural and recreational opportunities, leverage the lower cost of living into family vacations.
ParticipantI’ve seen at least two houses from the various house-flipping shows on other blogs … both expensively and extensively remodeled, both massively overpriced, both unsold after mega DOM. I seem to recall one in Westchester and one in Palm Springs.
ParticipantThanks for the background info!
I don’t know much about El Cajon (O.C. resident, mostly familiar with North County) but from Google Maps it seems this complex is on a busy street near a mobile home park and an industrial area.
Even so I’d think that in 2004-05 the developer would have asked for more than the $250K “market value.”
Wonder what the reserve / actual bids will be …
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